AuthorTopic: I'll Try Not to Overload You With Too Much Rodeo (Read 5252 times)

But given a suggestion in my first thread, I've begun to do some B&W conversions.

Does the OOF foreground rider take too much away from the back rider? Is it more or less noticeable in the B&W? Which version has the most visual impact as to the excitement of the moment? This event is called: Team Roping.

That was my dilemma all night. Couldn't do the DOF I wanted for lack of shutter speed to stop, or at least minimize the action. I guess I could always go higher on the ISO but there is a point...yet, I see great shots all the time and have to wonder about either their glass or Any ideas?

In this particular case, focusing on the front rider would result in a more pleasing picture than having more DOF. It would put the back rider slightly out of focus, but still very recognizable, and the public and fence much more out of focus. You don't really want to have more DOF for images like this. You would, of course, then have to pay a bit more attention to the composition and see if the front rider's position is optimal.

As for "stopping the action," I do not think it is quite necessary either. Slight (or even not so slight) motion blur can add a sense of dynamics to the picture. The best motion blur would be, of course, a result of panning.

In conclusion, you do not always need more DOF, higher ISO, or higher shutter speed for images like this. Just a good eye and good reflexes

Thanks, Slobodan. I think a lot of my issues had as much to do with not knowing what was going to hapen next, therefore not having the proper controls set in place to begin with. It was my first time and I wanted to see if I could at least get a good gist of the action of a rodeo. I sorta-kinda think I did on some shots, failing moreso on others.

One of my personal issues has been shooting people in their natural environment. I've done studio portraiture (a long damn time ago) but catching the "street scene" feel of the natural gesture has been something I was afraid to tackle for quite some time. If I do come away with anything from this shoot, it is the feeling I did pretty well on that account. This is one such shot where I feel I was able to capture a family observing the rodeo..note how far the daughter is sitting away from her parents.

In this particular case, focusing on the front rider would result in a more pleasing picture than having more DOF. It would put the back rider slightly out of focus, but still very recognizable. . .

I agree with the idea, Slobodan, and you're right that the major figure should be the one in focus, but Chris was shooting with a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoomed to 32mm at f/2.8. ISO 2000. For starters, that lens has no optical stabilization, so it's not the greatest choice for this kind of work. He was focused on a spot 5 meters away -- about 16 feet. I'd guess that was roughly the distance of the more distant rider. If that's the case, the closer rider would be about 6 feet out. If he focused on the closer rider, at 32mm and f/2.8 he'd have a depth of field range of roughly 5'9" to 6'3". The distant rider would be very out of focus.

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As for "stopping the action," I do not think it is quite necessary either. Slight (or even not so slight) motion blur can add a sense of dynamics to the picture. The best motion blur would be, of course, a result of panning.

In conclusion, you do not always need more DOF, higher ISO, or higher shutter speed for images like this. Just a good eye and good reflexes

Right on. Motion in this kind of picture adds the kind of dynamism you want. But to get what he's after I think Chris is going to have to crank his D7000 on up to ISO 6400, and, possibly, stop down a bit because he's going to need a bit more DOF. If I were Chris I'd switch to a 24-120 f/4.0, which has optical stabilization, so the motion is in the subject, not the camera. There's going to be some noise at ISO 6400, but for this kind of picture that shouldn't matter much. It isn't landscape. If the noise gets too high you always can convert to B&W, which, in my own estimation is better for this kind of picture than color. Another useful trick is to pre-focus so focus doesn't jump around when you're shooting. That requires that you set up your Nikon so you're using AF-ON exclusively for focusing, which is what every pro I've ever talked to does. Once you set up your camera that way you'll never go back to a half-press of the shutter button.

I just happen to have that lens so next time I will have a go that way...I've shot 6400 on this camera in low light and sometimes okay, sometimes no so much. May go to 3200 as that seems to work in more cases. Thanks for the input.